I owe y’all a blog about my Adventure Awaits Book Club October book choice.
The book chosen for that month was You Shouldn’t Have Come Here by Jeneva Rose.
Thrillers aren’t really my go to choice for books I like to read, but I’m trying to branch out. It also seemed like a spooky enough choice since the entire month of October revolves around Halloween and all things spooky!
I started following Jeneva on TikTok a while back. Many of us have probably seen her humorous videos with her husband. Her stand alone videos have a drier humor, but she still cracks me up.
During a casual cruise around Walmart, I stopped in the book aisle. I can’t go to a store that has books and not buy a book… Anyways, I spotted a romance book (It’s a Date (Again)) written by Jeneva and read it earlier this year because it’s in a genre I tend to read.
Since I liked that book and her social media is always entertaining, I figured I’d give one of the books she’s better known for a chance.
I’ll start off by saying I don’t think the book was meant for me. My brain hides from books like You Shouldn’t Have Come Here.
A few people in my book club commented, when I made the choice, that the ending had a surprising twist. I don’t know if surprised is the word that I would use or disturbing. I guess I can be supportive of a strong female character, but goodness.
Please prepare yourself for an ending that will probably make your eyebrows shoot up, your eyes to bulge, and for you to sit there with your mouth opened questioning the sanity of people in this world.
I used to joke that people who can write books that are creepy and disturbing might need to have their homes checked for bodies. I feel like Jeneva could be added to that list of people with this book. It’s not the whole book, just the last few pages (and maybe a sprinkle in the middle).
I’m not certain if people caught on quicker than I did. What I did while reading was underline every random sentence that made me go “yeah, that’s weird/creepy/suspicious.”
I tried to figure out what this twist ending, my friends mentioned, might be. I wasn’t too off base but Jeneva’s brain is definitely capable of a little more darkness than mine!
Let me go count how many sentences I underlined.
Okay, I’m back.
75.
Technically there’s more than 75 sentences, but I grouped some parts that were more than one sentence together totaling 75 weird/creepy/suspicious parts. There were probably more, but the ones I underlined stuck out more than some.
The shift between character perspectives each chapter made you suspicious of both primary characters. There were plenty of lines that I underlined questioning the intentions of both. The minor characters also all added a level of suspiciousness that made you question the sanity of the entire town most of the story took place in.
If I had picked up this book without any knowledge of the genre or the author, I would say it is a book that will likely keep a person reading. You find yourself rooting a bit for the characters while also questioning who is going to get murdered. It’s a weird dynamic.
The fish hook part (if you’ve read it, you’ll know)… I want it permanently removed from my brain. I almost put the book down and gave up when I read it.
Overall, I wouldn’t say that I recommend the book, but I also wouldn’t say that I don’t recommend the book. Do with that what you will. *shrugs*
One of my favorite things authors do is work in their title, especially when it’s one that doesn’t work in as easy as some. Jeneva managed to get it in there twice on pages 246 and 262 in my copy. It made sense and also happened to be two of the instances where I have a yellow line underneath the words.
Mom, please never read this book. You won’t like it. Just don’t do it. Thank you for reading my blog, though! I love you!
Keep your eyes out for the November AABC blog post about Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston!
Ariel Pierce 